Giaan Rooney

[Aussiebabe]

Not really a favourite swimmer, but I read a really surprising article on her the other day which really impressed me about her strength.

The article was talking among other things about her coming out of her recent slump in form since Fukuoka. She has apparently suffered with injury a lot (nothing new there) but what got me was the type of injury!! Apparently as she gets fit, her stomach muscles get so fit and strong that they slowly sqeeze at her rib cage, pull bit of bone off and eventally she gets a fractured rib!! doesn't that sound so horrible?!!? The other bad thing being of course that it always happens when she's at her fittest and her last fracture occured 3 weeks after Fukuoka. Her coach has been working on changing her stroke, training methods etc to relieve pain and stop this happening, but as yet no luck (the latest was her third fractured rib and it takes ages to heal - presumably 'cos she has to continue to train to a degree)

I was therefore especially pleased to hear of her success in the Quantas skins at the 100m Bk and disappointed she was DQ'd in the 3x100m f/c which she had also won, beating Elka Graham.

[swimusa]

I have never heard of anything like that before. Is this a common occurance amongst people around the world? That is sooo weird.

[swimleeds]

Did you see the crowd figures for that meet?

6000.

One swimmer Andrew Burns took home $5000 and Ethan Rolff trousered $3000. Not well known names!

The meet was televised by Fox (Sky in the UK)

[violet]

i like giaan....i hope she goes well at the commonwealth games.

[Rachel]

... Ok, here it comes ... a shameful plug ... http://www.geocities.com/giaanrooneyfans/

:D Go Giaan!

[backerbabe]

Giaan Rooney and Sarah Price??? You've got to be kidding me. I have never in my life met 2 more fake people! Not only are they completely fake, but they're not very nice either. It's one thing to be perfect in front of the cameras but when they stop rolling, all eyes are still on you and trust me, eyes have been on those two and its not a pretty sight.

[Katie]

oooh dearrrr someone's not going to be happy with you!!! Excellent first post backerbabe... welcome to the forums... (over to you Tara) :)

[lane4]

oooh dearrrr someone's not going to be happy with you!!! Excellent first post backerbabe... welcome to the forums... (over to you Tara) :)
Sarah herself might reply too. I'm told she is a "reader" of the site.

[backerbabe]

sorry, i just needed to put my opinion in there. i do know though, that Natalie Coughlin is just as nice behind the scenes as she is in front of the cameras. there is nothing fake there! and Lindsay Benko always seems friendly. i guess you all know who i want to do well then...

[Steve]

Well Tara lived with Giaan for quite a few weeks on her latest sojourn down here, so I'm sure she can enlighten us on that one! And I have to say that Sarah has always been very nice when I've met/spoken to her (cameras or otherwise) but then who am I to comment? ;)

[Tara]

sorry, i just needed to put my opinion in there. i do know though, that Natalie Coughlin is just as nice behind the scenes as she is in front of the cameras. there is nothing fake there! and Lindsay Benko always seems friendly. i guess you all know who i want to do well then...

I spent 5 months training at the team Giaan trains at, and found absolutely nothing two faced about her. I found she was as well spoken and "nice" as she appears on camera. She is down to earth and not at all arrogant about her success. She trains really hard and is a great role model for younger swimmers. Not only that, before even knowing me that well she let me stay at her flat for over a month, and I can honestly say she never acted the way your first post suggests, so I would be interested to hear why you think this.
I dont know Sarah that well, but again she has always been friendly and I have seen younger swimmers approach her and she always greets them with a smile and gives them time.
Obviously you are entitled to your opinion, but it would be interesting to know why you feel this way.

[Katie]

I don't know Sarah Price personally or anything but she's always smiling at everyone and chatting to swimmers, and not just those she knows really well. There doesn't seem to be anything fake about her! :)

[Dreama]

I'm biting my tongue here, but there may be some bias!!!!

[ruthcp]

I'm biting my tongue here, but there may be some bias!!!!

Care to expand a bit further on that one?

[Chris]

Backstrokers eh?!?!? ;)

[Dreama]

Well it seems that the US poster only likes the US swimmers...

[lane4]

Well it seems that the US poster only likes the US swimmers...
Not necessarily. Perhaps they know Natalie and Lindsay and just like them, regardless of their nationality. And besides the US poster is British anyway.

[Dreama]

hmmm well ok then, I'll shut up now.....not like swimmers being nice or horrible makes them any better or worse at what they do, and it's not our place to critically analyse people's personalities anyway!